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Hi all,
Sorry it has been a while again, but we have been ever busy, and to be honest, there hasn't been too much character news out there!
But, nonetheless I thought I'd just mention a few things that have happened in recent days.
At Disneyland Paris, the new Meet Mickey opened in Fantasyland at the former Fantasy Festival Stage location.
We don't have any of our own pictures to share right now, but from what I have seen of the inside, it is really neat! I think that they did a much better job of it than Town Square Theatre in the Magic Kingdom, that's for sure!
Disneyland Paris also released the new Winter brochure for this year, and it provides some small (very small) details about what to expect this Halloween and Christmas seasons.
Characters in themed outfits seem to be returning to both celebrations, and at Halloween the Villains too.
As we already knew, but now confirmed, the MNSSHPs are not returning (sadly), but the Soiree will.
At Christmas, Mickey's Winter Wonderland will return, and the description uses a plural - shows - so we expect that the Tree Lighting will return, and a new, reworked Castle Lighting (seeing that Central Plaza Stage has now gone).
Find a out a few more details, including dates, on our forum here (Christmas) and here (Halloween).
Over in Walt Disney World, Star Wars weekend began last week, and have, as always, been featuring all the best loved characters from the movies. I haven't heard of anything exceptional this year, or anyone new, but if I do I'll of course post it here.
Staying with the US Parks, both WDW and Disneyland launched Princess Merida from PIXAR's Brave last week.
Merida now meets at the Fairytale Garden in the Magic Kingdom, and near "it's a small world" in Disneyland.
Finally, last week I had posted a Happy Birthday Goofy post... I had done this because, according to numerous sources - including the Disney Parks Blog itself! - that it was indeed Goofy's Birthday. Now, according to Disney, it is Goofy's Birthday today!
I have double checked against various different sources, and most places seem to agree it is today, but some places still record it as the 12th of May!
Well, anyway, what ever the actual date (and my suspicion it is indeed today), we'll wish Goofy Happy Birthday again! Check out last week's post for a photo filled tribute to our favourite goof in action at the Parks and Resorts!
Ok, that's all for now,
Dan. |
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Hi all,
This week sees some sad news from Disney's Animal Kingdom. Apparently due to the new character lunch at Tusker House, WDW feel it apparently necessary to cut a whole bunch of characters from the Park's meet 'n' greet line up. To be honest nothing actually surprises me with WDW any more, and this is just another sad change that will go unchecked.
Quite why they have to cut regular meet 'n' greet characters - especially popular ones such as Lilo and Stitch, when they are receiving money for the meals anyway, is quite baffling. Doesn't it already cost enough to get into Disney, without having to pay for a meal to meet characters? Shouldn't the cost of the meal cover that service? Why should regular meet 'n' greets suffer? Let us know your thoughts on this by replying to this article, below.
Over at the Magic Kingdom, our friend Drew has posted some rumoured characters for Pete's Silly Sideshow. We hope that there are no cutbacks there, and some of those mentioned indeed come true! Oswald would be particularly amazing!
At Disney's Hollywood Studios Jake has finally made his official debut at both the Play 'n' Dine and outside Disney Junior Live at a meet 'n' greet. Sadly, once again, in favour of this one new character, ALL the Little Einsteins have faced the axe! The only one left that I am aware of is June, who still meets at the Play 'n' Dine (which is of course a paying service...) Jake has also started greeting at Hollywood Pictures Backlot in Disney California Adventure. I am sure Loren will have all the updates form that next weekend!
Here in Europe at Disneyland Paris, artwork has been released showing what is expected to be some of the changes to the Once Upon a Dream Parade for the 20th anniversary. I had already posted on the blog back in the early summer that the Fairies would appear at the front, and Mickey and Friends would move to the back onto Princess 2, but this seems to now be confirmed.
It also looks like there could be some new characters in the parade, such as Mowgli and Mike Wazowski. The Mickey and Friends characters are expected to have new outfits, which are the same ones which have been used for all the 20th anniversary advertising so far. Hopefully that will translate into meet 'n' greet outfits too, as they look pretty cool!
Regarding next year and Halloween, I had mentioned before that Halloween may be facing some cuts next year due to the massive expediture on the new "Dreams" night time spectacular. The new brochure (which can be found here, and also has a lot of the new artwork in it) does indeed confirm the sad demise of Mickey's Halloween Parties, but leaves the Soirée in place. It does confirm however that ther ewill be a Halloween Season, filled with characters and Disney Villains. Hopefully that means at least the Fab 5 friends, Pooh (Fab 5 and Pooh in Halloween outfits that is) and Jack and Sally will continue to meet, as they have always done, as well as all the cool Villains.
Ok, that's all for now,
Dan. |
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Hi all, We begin today's news with some details about Christmas Season across the parks, which has gotten under-way this week. First off, to Disneyland Paris, where they welcomed Duffy to the Resort officially. Duffy was inaugurated at special ceremony which incorporated the unveiling of the Gingerbread House at the Disneyland Hotel. He was joined by the band, as well as Mickey and friends in their Holiday finest. [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all, After a quiet couple of weeks on the characters news front, like buses, it all comes at once today! As Halloween Season across the parks draws to a close tonight, I have a few things to mention. Disney's Animal Kingdom, which for as long as one can remember has featured the Pooh and Fab 5 characters in Halloween outfits during the last few days of the season, has this year dropped this tradition. It was the only place across the WDW Resort you could meet any Halloween characters without having to pay for the parties (with exception to Duffy at Epcot this year). So we say a sad farewell to scarecrow Mickey, mummy Eeyore and all the other cool costumes from years passed. Over in the Magic Kingdom at the parties, it was reported that Donald has been seen in his pirate outfit on some random occasions even though he is supposed to be meeting as the pumpkin this year. Moving across the pond to Paris, and this weekend saw the Terrorific Nights return, this year with the addition of some Disney Villains. The event in it's two previous incarnations had billed itself as being the more adult, and much scarier event, with very little Disney influence at all. This year saw all the regular Villains from DLP's main Halloween Season and parties appear at the Studios events, including Shan Yu, The Witch, Hades, Frollo and Jafar. I had previously said that the Headless Horseman was making a surprise appearance at the Halloween version of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show for all performance in the last week of October, and much to everyone's surprise, he even made it over to Terrorific Nights as well! Staying with Paris, but jumping ahead to next week, and in preparation for his Christmas Season public début, Duffy the Disney Bear is appearing at a special Annual Passholder event tomorrow at the Newport Bay Club. From 1pm to 2.30pm, Duffy will greet his fans who hold the Dream pass. I have no working link for the sign up, so you will have to contact Disney if you want to attend. Over in California, Loren keeps us up to date as always with any character developments there. His latest post can be found here, and includes details about the Christmas Day Parade taping at the park this coming weekend! It is likely to be awesome, but also very hectic, so make sure you read his post about all the events before you go! Over at WDWMagic, our friend Drew posted that Talking Mickey will be making appearances in WDW this week at Town Square Theater. Disney will probably not release any details about this, and it will be pot luck if you get to meet him. Let us know if you get to see him! Don't forget to check out all the latest additions to the site. Happy Halloween everyone! Dan. |
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 | Happy Halloween Everyone! | |
| DisneyDan
Monday, October 31, 2011 10:12:21 AM |
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Happy Halloween from Character Central!
Dan and Jon.
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Hi all, This week has been a fairly quiet week news wise, so I thought I would just update you on some of the new things here at Character Central. Part One of my Disneyland Halloween trip Report can be read here. Part Two, which is all about the Halloween Parties, is here. My review of the Soundsational Annual Passholder Event night is here, and Loren's is here and also includes his review of the CHOC Walk, which was last weekend. I added the following new Characters to the site: Shaker Agent P Zero and the CDA Workers. I added the following new locations to the site: Halloween Time at Disneyland, including Mickey's Halloween Party, Piratepalooza, Buzz Lightyear's Intergalactic Space Jam and Mickey's Costume Party Cavalcade. Phineas and Ferb's Rockin' Rollin' Dance Party Ariel's Grotto "Under the Sea" Character Dining PIXAR Pals Heroes in Training Squad and Monsters Inc Mayhem The Mary Poppins Castle Show The Wilderness Explorer Ceremony and Disney Dance Crew. A lot of pages now have more new photographs, with lots more to come. A few pages also have new videos too. I won't list them all, but next time you visit a page be sure to scroll down to see if anything new shows up under the Most Recent images! Of course, on top of that, all those new pages will need descriptions too, but they will come over time when I get chance! Stay tuned for more updates over the next few days, including our trip to Walt Disney World for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! Ok, that's all for now, Dan. |
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Hi all,
In this second part of my Disneyland California trip report I am going to talk about the Mickey's Halloween Parties.
For the past few years we have been visiting Disneyland Paris and WDW for Halloween. Due to this (and other reasons) we had never visited Disneyland California for Halloween before, so this year, we decided we would!
I have already talked about the regular daytime Halloween offerings at Disneyland in part one, so this report is just about the ticketed parties.
We attended two of the Mickey 's Halloween Parties last week (Tuesday and Friday) and are very glad that we did.
The first one on Tuesday was ridiculously busy, and actually Disney had oversold the tickets that night (we found out from CM friends). [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all, As you all know Jon and I have spent the last week in Disneyland California for the Halloween season. I don't tend to write trip reports for places that we visit fairly frequently, but we experienced so much new stuff on this trip that I had to write one! We had five days of fun and adventures across the resort with many of our Disney friends, including Loren, who you all already know. While there we not only got to experience the park's Halloween offerings but also some other new things along the way. [ Read More... ] |
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Hi all, Friday saw the official opening of the brand new Princess Pavilion in Fantasyland at Disneyland Paris. Following a few days of soft openings, the Disney Princesses were there at 9.30am along with some other courtiers to officially dedicate the new meet 'n' greet location. Our good friend Hilde (who is also a life long Disney fan), posted a blog entry to her tumblr account which includes some really nice pictures. You can discuss the Pavilion here on our official forum thread. [ Read More... ] |
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 | Halloween updates from Paris and California | |
| DisneyDan
Wednesday, October 5, 2011 12:23:00 PM |
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Hi all, Loren posted his Mickey's Halloween Party report to the Forum, so be sure to check that out. As always it contains some really great pictures and useful information for those attending. I also made a Forum post earlier about the Halloween Season at Disneyland Paris. It was more suited to the Forum as it contained a lot of pictures, rather than specific information. Be sure to check it out as it also has a lot of useful pictures for those who are going to be there this Halloween Season. On some unrelated news, our friends at Characters Photos Blog on Facebook were in the city of Paris today for a special event attended by none other than Phineas and Ferb! I believe this is the first time they have ever featured anywhere in Europe. Phineas and Ferb is really popular here like it is in the US, so I hope that they come to Disneyland Paris, but I haven't heard anything on that front yet, sadly. But now they have arrived here, maybe they'll stay?... Finally, Loren clarified the news regarding the Winnie the Pooh meet 'n' greet area in DL. It is being refurbished, and he posted a link here to the update, which includes some photos. Ok, that's all for now, Dan. |
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